by , 7:30 AM EDT, June 11th, 2008

Apple will be transitioning .Mac customers to its new MobileMe service in July, which includes some changes that will let users have more control over their contacts and schedule on the go. Preparing for the change now means you will be less likely to have problems when the switchover happens.

To make sure your contacts and calendars properly sync with MobileMe, you need to make sure that Address Book and iCal are syncing with your .Mac account. If you aren't sure that's happening already, do this:

• Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
• Click the .Mac Preference Pane icon.
• Select the Sync tab.
• Make sure Synchronize with .Mac is checked and select how often you want data to sync with your account from the pop-up menu.
• Check Calendars and Contacts.

Activate .Mac syncing in System Preferences

Since there are still a few weeks before .Mac becomes MobileMe, setting up syncing now ensures that your contacts and calendars are up to date on your Mac and .Mac account.

Select your calendars and contacts for .Mac syncing.

If you currently sync Safari's Bookmarks with your .Mac account, be sure that data is up to date on your Mac before the MobileMe switch over. While your bookmarks will still sync with your iPhone or iPod touch, the online Bookmarks application won't be available any more.

While you will get a me.com email address, you won't be required to retire your mac.com address. You can also continue to use your .Mac account name with iChat.

Also, any Web pages published to your .Mac account will be available via their current mac.com URL as well as the new me.com. For example, if I have an iWeb or other site published at http://web.mac.com/MyMacRocks, it will also be available at http://web.me.com/MyMacRocks. The same holds true for Web Gallery sites. The .Mac slides publisher, however will go away when Apple activates MobileMe.

MobileMe will bring some changes to the .Mac world, but with a little planning ahead of time, the transition should go smooth and ultimately offer even more features for iPhone and iPod touch users.